


The Spectre Rising

by 20SomethingSuperHeroes



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fights, Hydra (Marvel), POV Female Character, Pre-Captain America: Civil War, Protective Clint Barton, SHIELD, Steve Rogers Has Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-23 03:55:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6104023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/20SomethingSuperHeroes/pseuds/20SomethingSuperHeroes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint Barton's sanctuary has been attacked by none other than Jamie Sneld, a former Enhanced SHIELD agent now serving Hydra.  Captain Steve Rogers has asked Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, to confront her and capture her if at all possible.  Jamie Sneld, however, knows what both Steve and Wanda are afraid of...</p><p>Setting: Eight months after Ultron, four months before...you know</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Spectre Rising

After two nights of fireworks, Clint Barton figured it was time to pick up the debris. It wasn’t an easy job, considering most of the rockets he had set off in the south pasture had landed in several inches of snow. He had debated leaving off gathering the fireworks until spring when the snow melted, but then he realized that the uncollected trash would have nagged him the entire time.

New Years’ had been pleasant enough. It had been nice to have Nat and Wanda come over for Christmas, but they’d gone back to New York State a few days after, and Clint had had the house to himself and his family, just the way he liked it. 

He huffed in the cold air as he collected the spent rockets and papers in a garbage sack. It would be more efficient to use them for the fire, but one could never be sure if they didn’t have any leftover gunpowder tucked inside the cardboard anywhere. One couldn’t be too careful these days about anything. Wanda had passed a rough night on Christmas Eve, but that was understandable. To someone as experienced as Clint, PTSD nightmares were normal. To someone as young and inexperienced as Wanda, they could be frightening, but they made one stronger. Clint suspected that Wanda’s dreams weren’t merely dreams, considering her powers, but it wasn’t his job to pry into her business. It was better to get help, but best to do so voluntarily. 

The silent, snow-covered landscape offered little distraction, and plenty of room for thought. And Clint had done a lot of thinking these days: about the Avengers; about Tony Stark; about his late cousin Emily Bridger; about SHIELD and Hydra and the state of affairs in the world; about Natasha and Wanda and Wanda’s brother who had died too soon; about his own family and what kind of a world they were hiding from. He listened to the radio occasionally and read news articles on the internet. But he didn’t feed from the media constantly. When he came out to the farm, he came to focus. He’d been there for almost eight months now. Natasha had been right when she said he was getting restless. Laura was starting to notice. He’d run out of ideas for improvements to make to the homestead right before winter came. So now he was spending the winter getting ready. He wasn’t preparing for anything in particular, just for whatever needed to be done.

He stood up straight and stretched his back. He was in good shape for a man of his age, and he’d been doing regular workouts and strenuous farm work ever since he had returned last year. But at what point, he wondered, was his age going to catch up with him?

He looked around the house and the barn and the trees and the fields. There wasn’t much going on around there. He might as well go back inside, if he was finished here. He could build up a nice, warm fire, make himself some hot coffee, and maybe curl up on the couch in his new bathrobe while in the company of his wife and children. He tied off the garbage sack and started to walk forward.

The bathrobe from Natasha had been his favorite gift that year. He was thinking about getting one for Laura to match, or maybe the same material in a different color--  
He heard a noise. Something was dragging across the top of the snow nearby. It wasn’t large--but it wasn’t natural, his gut told him that.

He looked around. As far as he could see, he was alone outside. But the birds had suddenly gone quiet.

Clint continued walking forward. He heard the dragging sound again. It was followed by a hiss. That wasn’t normal for this time of year. Didn’t snakes hibernate?

Well, flesh-and-blood snakes, perhaps.

Clint continued to move forward. He knew something was watching him. When he got to the garbage bin beside the barn he opened it. The lid creaked open more loudly than usual. He avoided looking over his shoulder and deposited the garbage sack inside. Closing the lid, he turned around and looked across the barnyard warily. He walked forward the way he came to see if he could get a better look.

A casual glance at the ground and he saw what he was looking for. It was the trail of a snake’s belly, winding on the top of the snow bank where he had been a minute before. He must have walked past it earlier and not even seen it.

He turned around. The snake trail led to the shed between the house and the barn. The shed appeared undisturbed, but as he looked a puff of snow came down from the roof--there wasn’t any wind to disturb it.

Clint ran back to the house, jumping over the piles of snow heaped on the side of the driveway. He didn’t even bother shaking off his boots when he entered.

“Laura?”

“Clint, what is it?” Laura came into the entryway, carrying Baby Nate. Cooper and Lila were playing in the living room.

“I need you to keep the kids downstairs for a few minutes,” said Clint, grabbing her by the shoulders. “Close the drapes in the kitchen, I’ll get the living room.” He walked into the living area.

“What’s going on?” asked Laura, alarmed.

“Daddy, daddy! Are you done cleaning up the fireworks?” Lila asked when her father entered the living room.

“Lila, I need you to be quiet,” said Clint urgently. “Cooper, you too.” Clint pulled the blinds in the living room down and shut them as close as they would go. He thought he glimpsed something out there--a long, flat something. He pulled the curtains over the blinds.

“Dad, what’s going on?” Cooper asked when he saw his mother doing the same thing in the kitchen.

“There’s something outside. I’m going to go check it out.” Clint turned to look at his family. “You guys stay in here and keep quiet. Use the downstairs bathroom only. I’ll come back when it’s safe.”

“Daddy, what’s out there?” asked Lila.

“I don’t know, sweetie.” Clint patted his daughter on the head. He let Laura kiss his cheek before he stepped outside again.

He dashed down the stairs of the front porch and looked around. He went to where he thought he had seen the thing outside. There was a snake trail there that had looped around back to the barn.

Clint went to the barn. He took his bow from off the rack on the wall where he kept it. There was a loaded quiver waiting from his last archery practice. It was a pity he wouldn’t have time to warm up, but whoever it was would be waiting for him. While in the barn he kept his ears alert and glanced over his shoulders every five seconds. There was no one in the barn--or at least, no one that he could see.

He stepped outside with an arrow already notched to the string. He looked over at the shed again. The puff of snowflakes was still drifting around on the side of the shed. There was no sign of the snake. 

He ducked behind the barn door again and watched. Whatever had stirred the snow had stopped moving, or was no longer near the shed. He had not noticed anything trying to enter the barn, and it was still empty behind him. But he was starting to get suspicious. As the minutes passed, the snow cloud by the shed had finished stirring. The snake did not appear again.

Carefully checking his surroundings, Clint ventured out of the barn. He walked up to the shed where the snow had been disturbed. There was nothing more than a few indentations in the snow by that spot. He walked around the barn slowly, checking the area between the shed and the house for movement. Making as little noise as possible, he poked the tip of his arrow around the corner of the shed, then his eye. He moved around, surveying the area behind the shed. Everything looked normal. He continued behind the shed and around the barn towards the edge of the forest. He couldn’t hear anything breathing, much less moving. 

But then he noticed something in the woods. There was a tree on the edge that was sticking out a little too far from the others. Clint recalled that there wasn’t even a tree in that spot normally. He raised his bow and stretched it full taut. Whoever it was, they could see him. But did they realize he could kill them point-blank at this range, a little under twenty feet from where he stood?

He fired. There was no noise of impact. The tree dissolved into a set of swirling shapes and vanished. The arrow landed in the snow. Then he heard someone moving behind him. Of course, there was a pile of wood behind the barn, obviously they were hiding there. Clint whirled around and fired another arrow towards the woodpile but they had already moved. He heard the person coming up from the side. He dropped his bow and raised it to hit them. But then the person ducked to one side and moved behind him. He spun around, trying to find the person. 

He only had a glimpse. It was a woman, and she was wearing a long, heavy, black coat. And she was fast. 

Then he saw something bright red appear out of the corner of his eye. It hummed loudly. Clint turned with his bow raised and saw--

Kylo Ren from The Force Awakens. The cross-hilted lightsaber was drawn, and he was bent over, ready to attack. 

Well, at least it looked like Kylo Ren. If the apparition was an illusion it would vanish just like the tree had. It could only be one person.

Clint lowered his bow. He looked around, and when he had his head turned, the illusion moved forward, ready to strike. He pulled his bow taut again.

“If there’s one thing I hate, it’s a drama queen. Stop fooling around, Sneld.”

The image of Kylo Ren disappeared. Behind where it had come stood a woman that Clint had known years ago. She was tall and dark-featured, and her face was leaner and more gaunt than he remembered it. She wore her hair back in a ponytail and wore a black trenchcoat over her dark clothing, a military uniform of some kind. Jamie Sneld had been bent over to control the illusion, but she stood up straight.

“After all this time, Clint Barton, I am amazed you remembered me.”

“Well, it seems you don’t miss me, either.”

“I know what you are hiding here,” said Sneld, smirking at him.

“Stop acting like a punk. Now who’s with you? Are you alone?”

“Yes, I am,” she said, smiling broadly. “But you will find that I am more than a match for you.” She raised her hand back and threw a ball of red fire at Clint. Clint loosed his arrow. Sneld ducked and it zipped over her head, striking the back of the house. The fireball she’d thrown fell into the snow and melted on impact.

Funny, she wasn’t able to do that when I knew her, Clint thought. Clint drew another arrow and fired. Sneld loosed another fireball and the arrow disintegrated in midair. Clint ran up to her. Sneld conjured a small, black object that spun through the air with a whipping noise. Clint struck it with his hand, smacking it to the ground. It was cold and hard and felt very solid. Before it vanished from where it had landed in the snow he realized it had been an axe head. 

“Are you impressed, Barton?” Sneld asked him.

“I’d be more impressed if you could hit me, Sneld.”

“Oh, don’t call me that,” said Sneld, smirking. With her fingers flexing, she collected a lump of ice from the driveway and shaped it into an icicle. “I am known as the Spectre!” she shouted as she hurled the icicle at Clint like a javelin. Clint dived to one side. The very real icicle followed him. He picked up the icicle just as it was about to stab him in the stomach. He tried to pull it but it resisted him, following him as he moved. 

“The Spectre?” he snerked. “I’m pretty sure that name’s been taken.” The statement angered Sneld, so much that her concentration broke. The icicle stopped moving and he broke it in his hand. Barton ran up to her with an arrow pointed at her face. He would not hesitate to kill her if he had the chance, even if that was what Captain America or Emily or Hillary or anyone else who had known Jamie Sneld would have done. 

Sneld moved backwards, and when Clint got onto the ground to shoot her she raised another image: a gigantic black bear, complete with roaring and slobbering sound effects. Sneld stepped to the side while the bear towered over Barton. The arrow went through it and the bear didn’t vanish. It towered over him and pushed him to the ground, then tried to cage him between its massive front arms. Clint rolled to the side. He got up and stepped through the image--it felt like a mass of hot air. Sneld was quick to move the bear between herself and Barton. Clint got another arrow onto his bow. He couldn’t see through the bear to get a clear shot. Whenever he stepped to the side, Sneld and the bear would move with him. At one point, the bear swiped a claw at Clint, and something very real, very strong nearly pulled his bow out of his hand. Clint raised the bow to the creature’s head. Then he glimpsed Sneld moving in his peripheral vision, getting around the bear to get at him. Clint turned to the side and fired the arrow at Sneld. Sneld raised a barrier of golden light between herself and the arrow just in the nick of time, and it bounced backward onto the snow. The bear vanished. 

“Gotta be faster than that, Agent,” said Clint. 

“Don’t call me AGENT!” screeched Sneld. In the blink of an eye, Clint had the bow slung over his shoulder and he had taken two steps forward to punch Sneld. Sneld grabbed his arm with both of her hands, her long fingernails digging into him like claws. Clint tried to kick her while she had him held. Sneld twisted his arm and turned him to the side--he’d forgotten how physically strong she was. He pulled the bow back off his shoulder and started trying to hit her with it, trying to strangle her with the string. She released her grip on Clint and threw a fist at his face. He leaned sideways to dodge and then swung his bow back like a bat to hit her. She ducked and then kicked him. She had aimed for the groin but the blow landed on his thigh, and he fell to the ground in surprise. She bent down to tackle him, but he jumped up and grabbed her, flinging her backwards. 

She landed several feet away from him and then continued to back up. Then she knelt to create an image: a bull elk. The elk bugled and charged. Before Clint was ready, it had picked him up in its massive rack and carried him a few feet. He jumped down. The elk lowered its rack to gore him. Clint shot an arrow over the elk’s back in an arc. It was enough to startle Sneld and make the elk vanish. Clint ran backwards and started to climb up a nearby tree.

Sneld created a mountain lion to climb up the tree after him. It bounded, lifelike, through the snow and snarled at Barton. 

“You’re an Avenger, Clint. You’re not supposed to retreat!” she taunted him. The mountain lion sprang up the branches of the tree. Clint knew shooting it would do no good. The mountain lion pushed him over on the branch. He raised his bow between himself and the beast to push it away. It was actually very heavy, and is breath was very warm. Clint raised his foot under the lion’s belly. He kicked it, partly pushing with his knee. The mountain lion snarled in alarm as it fell off the tree, too startled to pull its claws out to get a grip on either the branch or Clint. The lion landed on its paws in the snow and then vanished.

Before Sneld could do anything else, Clint stuck an arrow into one of his special arrowheads, and he launched it.

Sneld was laughing. “Is that really the best you can do, Bar--” Her taunt became a scream as the snow exploded. He raised a regular arrow, ready to shoot as soon as the gas and smoke had disappeared. But then he heard footsteps beneath him. It was Sneld, running away into the trees with her head covered.

He had to try really hard to resist the urge to laugh. He fired a couple of arrows at her. They both hit the trees as she ducked between them. 

It would have been a good idea to pursue and finish this, but he had a better idea. He turned on another one of his special arrowheads. Aiming, he could barely see Sneld’s figure in between the trees. But he could see an opening for the perfect shot. He waited, and then he fired. A second later, he heard her scream again and then yell as she hit the ground with a thud. He waited some more, concealing himself behind the branches of his roost. He heard Sneld’s heavy, frightened panting, then a rustling as the arrow was pulled out and hit the ground. Then she stood up and continued to run away.

Clint smiled. He didn’t remember Jamie having been this dumb when she was a SHIELD agent. 

 

“So you saw Hedwig two days after Christmas?” Hillary asked Steve as she and Mitch followed him down the corridor of the Avengers’ headquarters.

“Yes, I did,” said Steve. “I was down in Brooklyn visiting another cousin of mine. I was walking back to where I’d parked my car when I heard her hooting at me.” Steve smiled. “It was a good thing she showed up when she did. I was getting ready to come back up here.”

“Well, that’s great that you saw her,” said Mitch. “And I guess, from what you told me, that means Bucky is doing okay?”

“Yeah, he is--or was, a little over a week ago.” Steve pressed a button to call an elevator.

“‘Was’ is the correct answer, at this rate,” said Hillary grimly.

“So how was your Christmas, Mitch?” Steve asked when they were on the elevator.

“Oh, it was pretty good,” said Mitch. “Got to spend lots of quality time with the fam, get tackled by the nieces and nephews--they’re really big fans of you, by the way.”

“I’m sure,” said Steve as they got on the elevator, smirking.

“It’s too bad Coulson had to call us back before New Years’.”

“But it worked out just fine, didn’t it?” said Hillary. 

“Yep.” They got off the elevator.

“Oh really? What happened for New Years’?” asked Steve.

“We got to spend it with Hillary’s boyfriend,” said Mitch, putting emphasis on the last word. 

Steve laughed quietly. “Oh how nice.”

“Yep. It was my first time being with Mark and his family,” said Hillary. “We had a ball.”

“They’re an okay family,” said Mitch. 

“What do you think of Mark?” asked Steve when he opened a door. 

“Oh, Mark’s all right,” said Mitch. “I’ve met him before. But him and Hillary are definitely a cute couple.”

“Well, thanks for your approval,” said Hillary.

They entered an empty conference room. Steve sat down at the table. “Have a seat,” he said. But Mitch and Hillary remained standing. “So what’s so urgent that Coulson sent you here to tell me in person?”

“I’m afraid it’s a matter that concerns both of us,” said Hillary. “Coulson simply thought that it would be better to give you the news this way. She placed a manilla folder on the table and opened it, handing a printed page to Steve. “The Department of Homeland Security has refused SHIELD’s request to classify the Free Range Party as a terrorist organization.”

“This is the denied claim form, isn’t it?” Steve said, looking at the page. “Is there any particular reason SHIELD’s legal team couldn’t pull off another miracle?”

“Well, obviously, there’s a lot of anti-SHIELD and anti-Avengers sentiment in the air these days,” said Hillary, digging through the folder and handing him another printed page. “But the FRP’s legal team had an ace up their sleeve.” Mitch watched solemnly behind her. 

The page had a mug shot of the Winter Soldier, gifted from Hydra, printed on the top.

“The FRP agreed to seek an arrest for the Winter Soldier,” said Hillary. “Apparently, he’s been a ‘nuisance to recent activities’, as the file states, and they are now willing to aid the federal government in capturing him.”

Steve muttered a profanity. “They gave the feds information about his whereabouts?”

“Well, his whereabouts up until last June. SHIELD can keep the feds from talking to my family, and I doubt the Standfer and Watson law firm will have much to say on the issue. But they have another source for information about the Winter Soldier.”

“Hydra?”

“Yes. The FRP gave them evidence of his crimes--and then some.” Hillary swallowed and continued, “The FRP has also told the feds that it is Bucky, and not Jamie Sneld, who is responsible for Grace’s death.”

“But they can’t prove that!” said Steve furiously. “The evidence says he couldn’t have killed her.”

“The FRP has lawyers and money. And I’ll imagine Hydra is giving them some funding, too. The leaders of the FRP in several western states as well as their national board brokered the deal last Wednesday. Coulson called us in from our vacations when he heard they were having talks.”

“Golly,” said Steve. “So did the feds call them in when they reviewed their case?”

“No. Hydra told the FRP to come forward voluntarily. At least that’s what we think. There’s no proof.” Steve slid back in his chair and looked at the sheet of paper. 

“This is also speculation,” said Hillary, “but we think that Hydra might have people working inside Homeland Security who arranged the meeting on their end. We don’t have enough evidence to make any arrests. And the government has already had enough suspected Hydra agents arrested. Coulson thinks they aren’t going to let us take anymore.”

Steve sighed. “So now the government has taken Hydra’s side against Bucky.”

“Haven’t you told anyone?” Steve opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off, “I mean, haven’t you told some higher-up people in the government about his situation? People who could help him? My dad thinks that would have been the reasonable thing to do.”

Steve looked a bit sheepish. “Well...to be honest I haven’t,” said Steve. “But I’m afraid I don’t really trust anyone to actually be able to do something about it. Not someone who doesn’t already have too much on their plate.”

“I understand,” said Hillary. 

“Well, dang it, Steve,” Mitch spoke up. “He’s your friend. I’d have thought you’d be pulling out all of the stops to help him. You’re running out of time.”

“I have to make sure the Avengers can keep the world safe first before I do anything for Bucky.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to roll over and let the government wipe their feet on you,” Mitch answered, incredulous. “Sheesh.”

Hillary only sighed. “Steve, you can’t just sit back and let other people decide what happens to him. Even if he wasn’t your friend, he’s still mine. My family misses him, too.”

“Well, it seems like the rest of the world is turning against him,” said Steve.

“Are you surprised?”

“No. This is why I wanted him found before now. You said to let him take it at his pace, Hillary. What if it’s too late for him, because he doesn’t want me?”

Hillary sighed. “I dunno Steve. I’d like to be able to help Bucky but I’m afraid there isn’t much I can do. SHIELD is running out of options for protecting him. You may be the only person who can help him, Steve. People listen to Captain America.”

“Well, do they take me seriously?”

“Do you take them seriously?” said Hillary. “I mean, the people who see Bucky as a threat? The people who see you as a threat, for turning him loose in the world?”

“I wish I could,” Steve shrugged, learning on the edge of the table. He stood up and looked out the window, the paper with Bucky’s arrest warrant in his hand. He leaned against the glass pane and stared out at the snowy grounds of the Avengers headquarters. “It’s just...what do we do when the government doesn’t do the right thing anymore?”

Hillary shrugged. “You’re telling me.”

“So, are you gonna do anything about it, Steve?” Mitch asked. Steve didn’t answer. “Earth to Steve, are you listening?”

“Yeah, I am,” said Steve quietly, turning to look at them.

“Well, anyways, that’s all we’ve got for you,” said Hillary. “I wish I could give you some good news.”

“I know you do. Well, you can go down to our cafeteria for lunch. Tell the cook it’s on me.”

“Thanks, Cap. We’ll probably stick around for today.”

“Let me know if you need anything,” Steve told the two agents in a hollow voice as they exited the room. 

 

Natasha Romanoff was in the training room practicing on a punching bag when her phone rang. She thanked her lucky stars she hadn’t turned it on silent when the loud pop music she’d set to Barton’s number went off. She went to the bench where her gear was at and answered her phone.

“Barton, hey!” she said, grinning.

“Hey, Nat,” said Clint in a subdued voice.

“What’s up?”

“Nat, I’ve been attacked.”

“You’ve been attacked?”

“Yeah...well...my family...the farm. There was an intruder on the farm, that’s what I meant.”

Natasha swore. “Who was it, Clint? Who did it?”

“It was Jamie Sneld, acting on behalf of Hydra.”

Natasha cursed again. “What did she do to you? Are you okay? Are Laura and the kids okay?”

“Yes, we’re fine, we’re all fine,” said Clint hastily. 

“Tell me what happened.”

Clint gave her a description of his fight with Sneld. Natasha rubbed her forehead as she listened. She took a deep drink from her water bottle.

“So no one else from Hydra has shown up there?”

“Not yet, but I’m not taking any chances,” said Clint. “I’ve got traps and surveillance cams set up around the property. And I’m taking the fam to see Laura’s parents. We haven’t done that for a while.”

“Uh-huh. Good call. Have you called SHIELD yet, to tell them?”

“You’re the first person I’ve told,” said Clint.

“Well, call Coulson and tell him -- “

“I’m going to, Nat. But I need you to tell the team for me.”

“You need me -- the team? Do you want me to assemble the team, get them to come down there?”

“I don’t need all of them, perhaps one or two, maybe Wanda or Vision or both of them. Listen: while Sneld was running away, I fired a tracker on her. When I checked the reader it was still on her. She’s fled to Louisville.”

“Louisville. Okay.”

“I’ll send you her coordinates -- “

“Yes, do that.”

“I’ll call SHIELD and tell them to track her down, too. She could lead them to Hydra.”

“And you want one of us to take on Sneld?”

“Yes--preferably not you. You had a close call with her in Finland.”

“Okay. Cap will be happy you called.”

“Sure. Tell them I said hi.” On the other end of the phone, Natasha heard Laura calling to Clint. “I’ve gotta go, Nat.”

“Okay. Thanks for calling.”

“I hope you guys stop her this time.”

“We will.”

“I’ve got--”

“Clint?”

“Yes?”

“Be careful.”

“Right. I will. Let me know how it goes.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

Natasha picked up her gym bag and sent Steve a text on her way to the locker room.

 

Wanda Maximoff was in the cafeteria with Hillary and Mitch when she got a text. She reached in her pocket for her phone.

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE.  
RM 1340. ASAP.  
PS SHIELD Agents Tanner and Sorensen are invited as well.

Wanda read the text aloud to Hillary and Mitch. 

“Invited?” Hillary said, looking at Mitch.

“If it was an emergency that’s not the word I’d use,” said Mitch.

“Yeah, well, it’s a lucky thing we’re still here,” said Hillary as they picked up their cafeteria trays. 

“If the Captain needs you to come then perhaps it is an emergency,” said Wanda. 

“Hm, I’d say we were ‘requested’ to attend or ‘asked’ to attend. Or even ‘commanded’ to attend, he is a Captain, after all,” Mitch smirked as he dumped his leftover food in the garbage.

“Well, no,” said Wanda. “You’re not in the Avengers. You don’t have to take orders from him.”

“True,” said Mitch.

“Well, Coulson said actually that SHIELD is obliged to help out the Avengers whenever asked,” said Hillary.

“Like we’re not total fanboys or anything,” Mitch shrugged.

“Mitch, this is strictly professional,” said Hillary.

“I know.”

In the meeting room, things got serious pretty quickly when Natasha announced that Hydra had found Hawkeye’s family farm. Everyone was relieved to hear that Clint and his family were safe. But Hillary was disheartened to hear that the attacker had been none other than her and Steve’s old SHIELD comrade Jamie Sneld. 

Natasha was the first to speak after she’d passed on Clint’s message. “Well, Cap? You’ve been saying you’ve been waiting for the chance to get her. Are you going to take it?”  
Steve had his hands folded on the table, and he stared at them for a moment before speaking. “Well, yes, of course we’re taking it. But I can’t be there when we go fight her.”

“Cap, Clint didn’t say that it had to be all of us,” said Sam Wilson.

“I didn’t say that either. But if one of us is going to volunteer to take this mission, it will not be me.” Everyone looked at Steve. They already knew what he was going to say next. “I can’t be the one to fight her. We know what happened in Albuquerque. What she did to Bucky. To his girl. I’m not happy about what happened. Not happy at all.”

“Cap, none of us are,” said Sam.

“But me especially,” said Steve. “If I fight her...well, we’ve heard Natasha’s report. And Natasha’s fought her before. And Emily. We know what she’s like. How she gets under your skin while she’s throwing her shapes at you. She’d provoke me. There’s no question of her beating me, she never could. But if I beat her...well, there’s a chance I could beat her very badly. I could kill her, even. But taking her life is not my call to make. I know some of you in this room think she’s past the point of redemption. I don’t think Jamie’s been there yet. But to risk killing her when she still has the chance to change is wrong.” Steve was saying he was angry, but he looked sad while was saying it. It was a sadness that infected everyone else in the room.

“I think you’re doing the right thing, Steve, sitting out on this,” said Hillary, leaning forward in her seat. “I know if I was in your position, I would probably do the exact same thing. I’m just as upset with her as you are, I really am. But I think,” Hillary swallowed and bit her lip, “I think Jamie Sneld should be taken alive. I want to know how badly she hurt Bucky--how exactly she killed Grace. And I think we all need to know just how much trouble Bucky is in from fighting her. And it’s not just personal. Jamie has been with Hydra since before it broke away from SHIELD. She knows more about their organization and what they’re planning--what they’ve been planning from the beginning--than anyone else we could take.”

“Well, we know what Hydra’s planning, Tanner,” said Rhodey. “Take over the world, something like that?”

“Roughly,” Mitch shrugged.

“Yes, but they always have a different way of going about it,” said Steve. “I don’t know where Sneld fits in with their plans--she’s not the only Enhanced fighting for them. But I think if she was going after Barton then that means they’re trying to take out us. The Avengers. Past, present, possibly future.” He gave Wilson a knowing look. “And plus she’s one of their best. Why else would they have sent her to Albuquerque?”

“They would take out anyone who stands against them,” said Vision. “Anyone who’s capable of fighting them.”

“Hydra’s only goal is to destroy everything good there is in the world,” said Hillary. “They know they have to go through you guys first to get that.”

Sam Wilson sniffed. “No pressure.”

Steve looked at Natasha. “And Barton specifically asked that you sit this one out, too?”

“He did,” said Natasha. “And frankly I agree with him. Fighting against Jamie Sneld at her full powers once was...enough.”

“Well, it can’t be me or Wilson, Cap,” said Rhodey. “From what I’ve heard about Sneld her powers can mess up high-tech suits.”

“I’ve already gone through...one and a half suits in the last two years,” said Sam. “Let’s not add to that tally.”

“I agree. Vision, what do you think?”

“I do not think it wise to send me against Miss Sneld,” said Vision. “Like yourself, I am wary of overpowering her--not for reasons of personal anger, of course, but simply because I am overpowered. I think it would be fair to give Sneld a sporting chance at this.”

“Yes, but isn’t the point of going out to fight her so we can catch her?” asked Sam, confused.

“I understand your confusion, Samuel. But I think justice would be better served if she was brought to it by someone with similar powers.” He looked at Wanda. And he smiled a little.

“Me?” Wanda said, leaning back a little in her seat from Vision.

“Well, before Wanda decides to let herself get volunteered, let’s be clear on one thing,” said Steve. “Does anybody else in this room want to go and fight the Spectre that isn’t scared of beating her or being beaten by her?” The Avengers were uncomfortably silent. Hillary and Mitch were both afraid for the moment that they might not get anyone’s help on this. “I thought not. Wanda, do you accept this assignment?”

Wanda looked askance at Steve. “Well, I...sort of.”

“Wanda, you have my complete vote of confidence,” said Vision, patting her on the shoulder. Vision addressed the team and their SHIELD friends: “Wanda’s hexes and energy and matter manipulation powers are a perfect match for Jamie Sneld’s living illusions. They will make excellent opponents.” 

Steve smiled slightly. “You’re right. Wanda, you don’t have to say yes.”

“I’ll do it,” Wanda blurted. “I can do it. It’s my job. Someone has got to stand up to her. If it can’t be any of you, then it’s has to be me.”

 

Hillary and Mark called Director Coulson at SHIELD’s headquarters. It turned out that Clint Barton had already called to inform him of the situation while the Avengers had been discussing whom to send. He assured the Avengers and company that he was going to call the SHIELD office in Cincinnati to send a team to look for Hydra in Louisville. 

“How long do you need us to stay up here, boss?” Hillary asked him during the conference call.

“I can get someone to pick you up tonight,” said Coulson. “Until then, stay with the Avengers. I’m going to send you an email with the files we have on Jamie. Go over them with Wanda and the rest of the team--that should give them an idea of what they’re up against.”

“Got it.”

“Talk to you later,” said Coulson. He hung up his phone. He then made a phone call to the director of the Cincinnati SHIELD station. Hedwig was in his office on her perch in the far corner. She was dozing most of the time during his phone calls, but she was listening. At one point during Coulson’s phone conversation she woke up, stretched her wings, and preened herself. She also hopped over to the table with her food and water for refreshment. Then she returned to her perch and continued preening. 

“Hedwig, do you want to go for a walk?” he asked her.

She picked up her head at him. Didn’t he have more important things to do?

“Yes, I know. We won’t be long. I’m going to send Hillary the files really fast--” Coulson composed a brief email and attached the most important SHIELD files on Jamie Sneld.  
He sighed and muttered to himself, “She goes missing for a year in a half and shows up twice in three months, kills someone and then threatens Barton. Well, she always was a bit of a (swearword).” 

Hedwig hissed and clicked her beak at him. 

“What? You’re telling me off for cursing? I thought Harry and company were foulmouths, and you were around them all the time.” 

Hedwig simply thought Coulson had thought better of Jamie. Coulson sent the email, then got up from his desk and stretched a bit. “Come on, Hedwig,” he said, holding his arm out to her, bent out in front of his chest. “We both need to get out of the office for a while. It’ll do us some good.” Hedwig flew out to him, and they left the office.

Coulson went to talk to the Directors staff members. Agent Lyman was working on an important project and he checked on her progress. He then went to the Field Resources office on the third floor. People said hello to him in the hallway and on the elevator. A few of them smiled at Hedwig. Hedwig sat up straight on Coulson’s arm, basking in the attention. 

Agent Cameron Klein came from the Technology and Satellites office on the third floor when Coulson came off the elevator. Klein was carrying a heavy box.

“Hello, Coulson,” said Klein. “Hi, Hedwig.”

Hedwig chirped at him.

“What’s in the box, Agent?” asked Coulson.

“Agent Mueller is cleaning out her filing cabinet. These are just some binders of old Satellite data.”

“Oh.” Coulson leaned down to look at the inside of the box. Hedwig did too.

“What did she want you to do with these?”

“Just throw ‘em out. A lot of these aren’t really that important. Nothing newer than a decade ago--that was when we switched everything to digital.”

“Hm, that’s probably true. But why not get all of these scanned? And save the binders. We could find a use for those. And we could mine the data for information.”

“You want me to do that, sir?”

“Yeah--give it to Carolyn in Records. She’ll get her team to take care of it.”

“All right, I will do that,” said Klein, nodding eagerly. He turned toward the elevator. 

“Here, let me help,” said Coulson, cutting ahead of him to press the down button.

“Thanks, boss,” said Klein. 

Coulson took Hedwig into the Field Resources suite and left Klein to get onto the elevator. The office director, Agent Slaker, was talking to one of his staff next to the cubicles. Coulson strolled up to them with Hedwig on his arm and said hello.

“Good afternoon, Director,” said Agent Slaker. “This is unexpected.”

“Yeah, I guess I should’ve called ahead,” said Coulson. 

“What can I do for you?”

“I just got off the phone with Agent Newton in Cincinnati,” said Coulson. He explained the situation to Slaker. “I need you to send him what files we have on Jamie Sneld and Hydra’s recent activity. Along with an analysis memo.”

“Sneld. The Spectre. Got it,” said Slaker. “So she’s finally turned up?”

“Yes. Cap is sending the Scarlet Witch after her.”

“Oooh, that should be fun to watch,” said the agent that Slaker had been talking to prior to Coulson’s arrival.

“Yeah, I know,” said Coulson. 

“So Cap didn’t feel like sending the whole team in?” asked Slaker.

“Well, we don’t have any info about the rest of Hydra yet,” said Coulson. “His highest priority is capturing Sneld, if at all possible.”

“Uh-huh. And he thinks it’ll only take one of them to do that?”

“He hopes so,” said Coulson. Coulson’s arm was getting tired. Sensing this, Hedwig got onto his shoulder. 

“Does he want backup for Maximoff?” 

“As far as we know, Sneld was alone when she attacked Barton. We don’t know how closely she’s working with other people in Hydra--or even if she has other people working with her. That’ll be Newton’s job to find out.”

“Well, it’s going to take a day or two for us to get there,” said Slaker, folding his arms. “Did you want Newton to work with Maximoff--”

“No. Cap’s orders were for Wanda to go after Sneld alone.”

“Alone?”

“That way there are as few people endangered from SHIELD or otherwise as possible. Sneld’s powers can do a lot of damage. So can Wanda’s.”

The agent sniffed. “Makes sense.”

“Well, is Sneld known to attack civilians?” said Slaker.

“She did kill one recently--and dramatically. I thought you were aware of that.”

“Yes, I am, but what I meant was does she go around causing mass destruction? Is she that kind of supervillain?”

“She could be. If she wanted to.” Coulson glanced at Hedwig. “But Wanda’s orders are to attack Sneld while she is alone, away from people if possible. Barton got a tracking device on Sneld when she escaped his farm. Wanda should be able to find her on her own. As far as Sneld’s track record is concerned, she’s capable of fighting off large groups of people at once but she usually chooses not to. Did you know her before SHIELD fell?”

“I knew of her,” said Slaker.

“Well, here’s the thing: she likes dramatic, one-on-one grudge matches. She likes showing whoever she’s fighting that she’s better, that she has the strength to take them. And she likes to taunt them while fighting, get under their skin, play with their emotions.”

Agent Slaker raised his eyebrows. “Oh. Yeah. That sounds fun. And Wanda Maximoff is up to this?”

“As far as I know,” Coulson shrugged. “I’ve worked with her before. Sneld shouldn’t be a problem for her.” 

“Has she had experienced fighting other Enhanced?” asked the other agent.

“Absolutely.”

“Well, as long as Maximoff can handle her on her own, and make sure Sneld doesn’t suddenly decide to go on a rampage.”

“Right. Well, may the best girl win, I guess. Anyway, that was all.” Coulson turned to leave.

“So you want me to tell Newton to focus on finding Hydra? Is that it?”

“Yes. Jamie Sneld should not pose a threat to civilians or get caught up doing anything other than fight her target. As long as she’s not provoked.”

“I hope you’re right about this, boss,” said Slaker.

“I usually am.” Coulson left the suite. 

 

Hillary, Mitch, and Steve had taken Wanda to the control room to look at the SHIELD files on Jamie Sneld. Vision had tagged along.

Wanda had heard about Jamie’s battle with Bucky in Albuquerque, but reading about the details and the damage firsthand was unsettling. The account of the incident from SHIELD was mostly compiled from noises that Grace’s neighbors had heard and from the destruction in the living room.

“Bucky has super-strength and agility. Jamie has that, too, but she also has her powers.”

“She prefers not to have to fight hand-to-hand if at all possible,” said Hillary.

“But fighting hand-to-hand is not your greatest strength, either,” Vision pointed out.

“I know,” said Wanda. She felt pressured, all of these people trying to give her advice. “But if I could get her to not use her powers for a moment, do you think I would have a chance?”

“I doubt it,” said Hillary. “You’re not an expert at fistfights. She’s not, either, but she was trained by SHIELD, and she’s probably also in better physical condition at the moment. I used to spar with her, when we were in SHIELD school.” Hillary smiled. “She was still better than I was. But it was hard for her to not use her powers. She was still testing them, at the time. And they weren’t as strong.”

“It used to be, back in SHIELD school, that Jamie’s illusions were simply that: illusions,” said Steve. “But sometime before Hydra came out, according to her own confession, she found a way to strengthen her powers. Her illusions can now cause physical damage.”

Hillary pointed to one of the photos of Grace’s trashed living room. “It’s not clear how much Bucky was fighting back. Jamie had Grace tied up in the corner with her illusions and was strangling her slowly while she fought Bucky. She probably used them to beat him up and push him around the room--and he’s a genetically engineered super soldier twice her strength. That’s how powerful she is.”

“Well my hexes can hurt people pretty badly too--directly or indirectly,” said Wanda. 

“Yeah, they can,” said Steve. “But Jamie also targets innocent bystanders if it works to her advantage. I think the only reason she didn’t go after Barton’s family was because she knew he wouldn’t let him: she had to finish him first.”

“Does Barton know about Grace?” asked Hillary.

“Yeah, Natasha told him about it,” Steve nodded. 

“Let’s look at the Finland report,” said Hillary. She opened a different file on the computer. Wanda skimmed the account that Emily Bridger had written of her fight with Jamie. Jamie had hurt her and Natasha Romanoff pretty badly. Jamie had also used a lot of cruel words to taunt Emily. Wanda commented on this.

“Yeah,” said Steve. “Apparently she likes to do that to people. She and Emily ran in the same circle of friends at SHIELD school as me and Hillary. She and Emily had been roommates, they’d worked together at headquarters and they went on an assignment together. I had no idea Jamie resented her that much.” 

As much as Steve was afraid to fight Sneld himself, he was also afraid for Wanda. It wasn’t without good reason.

“I’m not afraid, Steve,” Wanda said. That was only partially true: she wasn’t convinced she needed to be afraid, even though part of her wanted to be.

“Well, you’ve got one thing on her: her powers can’t do mind control.” Steve looked up at Wanda and gave her an encouraging smile.

“How do you think her powers will react when they contact mine?” asked Wanda.

“I don’t know,” said Steve. “It’ll be fun to find out.”

“I imagine yours would be the more durable of the two,” said Vision. “Your hexes have their source in cosmic energy. Jamie Sneld, on the other hand, requires a chemical source in her body to manipulate the air around her for illusions. It’s static electricity, like lightning.”

“Well, that makes sense, since Jamie got her powers in an accident in a thunderstorm,” said Hillary. She sighed. “She lost everything when people saw what she could do. That’s why she joined SHIELD in the first place, so she could at least put her abilities to use. Feel accepted.”

“And that’s why she joined Hydra at Sitwell’s invitation,” said Steve. “Because he offered to put her to even greater use.” 

“So you want me to capture her if at all possible?” Wanda checked.

“That is correct,” said Steve. “But if worst comes to worst...you know...are you prepared to kill her?”

“Well, yes,” said Wanda. She looked at Hillary. “Would you be okay with that, if I killed one of your old friends?”

Hillary smiled a little. “The Jamie I knew died a long time ago. It doesn’t matter what happens now.” Wanda felt like she could take Hillary’s word for it.

“Don’t kill her unless you can’t avoid it,” said Steve. “Give her the option to surrender. If she doesn’t accept it...do what needs to be done.”

 

Unlike Hillary and Steve, Wanda was neither a spy nor a soldier. That night, while she was packing to leave for Louisville, she and Natasha talked, trying to sound casual about how much rested on Wanda completing this assignment. When she was done packing, Natasha sat on Wanda’s bed and told her side of the story about what had happened in Finland. Apparently, Natasha had gotten knocked out for part of the fight. Emily ended up facing Jamie alone and then rescuing Natasha.

“You didn’t tell me Emily Bridger saved your life,” said Wanda. 

Natasha shrugged. “Well, she didn’t trumpet the fact, either. We’d worked together on multiple assignments for SHIELD. I suppose she may have been a little attached to me. But, yeah. That’s what SHIELD agents do--or did, once upon a time. We look after each other. Cap was the best at that sort of thing. I looked after myself unless I was with Barton--but me and Barton were a team. And of course, I was one of like, five people who knew about him and Laura. Emily was a mystic warrior from a faraway galaxy who didn’t believe in leaving people behind. I suppose she owed me for looking out for her when we’d worked for SHIELD, so I guess we were even when...she left.”

“But you didn’t know Jamie Sneld that well?”

“No, I didn’t,” said Natasha, shaking her head. “Can’t say I wish I had, though, the way she turned out. But Jasper Sitwell was her trainer, and even after she’d finished working with him they were close. I imagine she’s bitter about his death. And well...everyone wanted to work with me and Barton and Rogers, after New York happened. But not many people had the chance. I think Jamie was disappointed and just wanted to prove she didn’t need the Avengers.”

“Prove to whom?”

“Herself.”

“I’ve heard her backstory,” said Wanda. “Do you think she knows about me? How I volunteered for Strucker’s experiments to become what I am?”

“I imagine so, if she’s still with Hydra. Is it kind of weird, that you voluntarily became a superhuman?”

Wanda smirked. “Well, Steve did. Didn’t you?”

Natasha shook her head. “The director of the ‘girl’s academy’ in Russia contacted my family first. They had no idea what they were signing me up for. I had no idea. So no. I guess I could’ve fought back.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Funny, I’ve never thought about that before. But I guess they just had me convinced it was a good idea.”

“A lot of things, then,” said Wanda, “are about what we are convinced to believe. What convinced Jamie that killing an innocent woman was an acceptable way to recapture the Winter Soldier? What convinced her that a society devoted to the subjugation of mankind was a good organization to work for?”

“Well--you can’t figure out everyone’s motivations.” Natasha patted Wanda’s hand. “Get some sleep. You’ve got a big day ahead.” She got off Wanda’s bed. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” 

Natasha turned off Wanda’s bedroom light. 

 

The dawn broke cold and gray over Louisville, Kentucky. A slight, chill breeze stirred around the corners of the alleys and rattled the trash in the gutters. Jamie Sneld stood behind a rain pipe and shivered as she tried to wrap her trenchcoat tighter around herself. 

Hydra was angry with her. But that was their problem. They had wanted to create the perfect plan for killing Clint Barton and destroying his family. They seem to have forgotten that destroying Hawkeye was Jamie’s responsibility--that she was the reason for the mission in the first place. So she’d gone ahead to the farm in Indiana to do the job herself. For not having superpowers, for having spent the last eight months straight on the farm, Barton had still been a formidable opponent--much more formidable than Jamie or her superiors in Hydra had expected. 

Jamie had discovered the tracking device only a few miles out from Barton’s farm. She had pulled out the arrow that had placed it there and closed the wound, it had only been slight. She had tried pulling the tracker off of her or turning it off some way, even using her powers. Nothing had worked. She’d gone back to her team in Louisville to tell them what had happened and to warn them that SHIELD and the Avengers were going to find them now. Her superiors, especially Williams, were all disappointed with her. Williams had said that he would inform Rumlow personally of her failure. 

So now Jamie’s job would be to draw whoever came after them away from Hydra. She doubted it would be someone from SHIELD. Their Enhanced Operative program had dwindled away since the Avengers had gotten back together. It would probably be one of the Avengers, and they would come alone. Jamie had known Captain Rogers back in her SHIELD days, and she knew what he was like now that he was commanding his own team. He would want as few casualties as possible.

He was also probably scared of her. He wouldn’t come himself.

But that’s all right, Jamie thought. He’s already paid the price for disappointing me.

Clint Barton would know better than to continue to pursue Jamie. He would give Rogers the coordinates from the tracker he’d planted on Jamie. And then Cap would send one of his friends to finish her.

Jamie exhaled. Let them come, she thought to herself. I’ll be more than a match for any of them. 

 

Wanda Maximoff took a hover-plane from the Avengers’ base to a military airfield near Kentucky, wearing her uniform under a long coat. SHIELD had a rental car waiting for her--her instructions were to take it wherever she needed to drive in order to find Jamie, but when they fought to park it a safe distance away. Wanda had an app on her phone that used Barton’s tracker. She spend that first afternoon in Louisville driving around in circles around red-light districts, run-down neighborhoods and underpasses, following wherever the signal from Barton’s tracker was leading her. But as soon as she got anywhere remotely close, the signal would vanish and reappear blocks or even miles away. Jamie was playing with her, was the best she could figure.

Wanda spent the night in a hotel room at a moderately sketch Super-8. She called Steve and Natasha to give them a report. And she went to bed early.

The next morning, Jamie’s signal was on the other side of town. Wanda drove after it, reaching her destination shortly after noon. When she reached a spot about a block away and parked her rental car, she noticed that the tracker hadn’t moved. 

Jamie was waiting for her.

Wanda left her coat in the car as well as her phone--she could feel Jamie’s consciousness not far away. Once she started walking, she would warm up. Once she started fighting, she would break a sweat.

Well, if she survived long enough.

Don’t think that, she thought.

According to the signal on her phone, her target was at least half a mile away. The walk took her over the cold, washed-out urban terrain. There was little traffic on these back streets, and she jaywalked most of the way. There were hardly any people out, mostly poor or homeless folks who sat on curbs or in corners and kept to themselves, but Wanda still felt conspicuous in her uniform. At least one person watching her from a distance recognized who she was from the news. 

About a block away from her destination, Wanda passed a group of pigeons sitting on the ground. They weren’t pecking for bugs and crumbs and garbage but watching her approach, not even making noise, not flying away when she came too near. There were more pigeons sitting on the roof of a building looking down at her as she entered an alleyway, the pavement wet from melted snow. 

She heard a bird cawing up ahead. She looked up and saw a black raven or crow circling over the alley. It flew over her and then flew ahead in the direction where she was going.  
Those kind of birds weren’t native to the area, were they?

At the end of the alley was a brick wall. The building on the right ended in a corner. Jamie Sneld was behind that corner, listening to Wanda’s approach. Wanda thought she could faintly hear Jamie breathing. Her opponent’s mind was eager for the fight, angry with the world but ready to prove herself, an ego swollen with her past victories, waiting to claim a new victim.

Wanda stopped walking a few paces away from the corner. She was going to wait for Jamie to make her attack, either in direct confrontation or ambush. Wanda guessed an ambush was more likely. But then she heard laughter.

“They sent YOU after me?” said a voice, young and cool and female. The voice laughed. The figure emerged from around the corner. She was a few inches taller than Wanda, but the combat boots and lean figure made her look taller. She was wrapped in a long, black trenchcoat and had her hands in her pockets, even as she laughed. Jamie Sneld had a long, lean face, a bony nose and arched eyebrows, and brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. “I’d have thought they’d send someone more impressive--someone experienced like Rhodes or Falcon, someone powerful like the Vision. But no.” Jamie laughed harder. “The Rookie! The lab rat from Sokovia. Well, it’s nice to meet you anyway,” Jamie said, calming down. “I’m Jamie. My alias, of course, is ‘Spectre.’ I hear they call you ‘the Witch.’” Jamie folded her arms and smirked at Wanda, leaning against the wall.

“Well...the Scarlet Witch, to be specific.”

“I imagine you’ve heard of me?”

“Yes. I have,” said Wanda. She wasn’t sure how to respond to that. But she wasn’t here to play games with Jamie: Jamie was trying to bait her. “Well...are we going to stand here all day and talk?”

“To be honest, I’d like to get to know you, if I have the chance,” said Jamie. “Just imagine: in a happier world, we could’ve worked together for SHIELD or the Avengers as supernatural agents, had a grand old time, maybe even been friends. But I don’t make friends with people who betray Hydra.”

“Now, you listen,” said Wanda, taking a step forward. “I never had any loyalty to Hydra whatsoever. I volunteered for what they offered me, not what they were trying to do to the world. And frankly, I had no idea who Strucker was working for when I signed on--”

“Well, you should make it a point to be more informed next time,” said Jamie, taking a few steps to the side. She held her arms behind her back. “And how about Captain America, then? Did he tell you what his goals were, when you signed on to be an Avenger?”

“The Captain does like to keep his teammates informed.”

“But he didn’t tell you everything,” said Jamie. They walked towards each other but to one side, circling. “He plans to pull down the government, kill Tony Stark and destroy the opposition to superheroes.”

“That’s a lie.”

“I’m just trying to warn you. You know it’s true. You’ve seen the news: you know which way the wind is blowing. How do you think he’s going to handle it, when things don’t go his way? He won’t have a choice, if he wants to save his friend. His dear Bucky.”

“SHUT UP!” 

Wanda fired a hex across the alley at Jamie. It stuck her in the chest, just a burst of energy. She flailed backwards and fell against the far wall with a grunt, almost falling to the ground but catching herself. Jamie panted and stood up slowly. She hadn’t been ready for that.

“Getting a little ahead of ourselves, aren’t we? What were you hoping to accomplish with that outburst, were you wanting to kill me?”

Wanda decided not to respond.

Jamie stood up straight. “I suppose we’ll do this properly,” she said. She shed her trenchcoat on the ground behind her. She was wearing black military fatigues, and on her left shoulder was a patch with Hydra’s logo on it. “Now, I assume, since you’re so close to Steve Rogers, that you heard about what I did to Bucky’s little girlfriend. Trust me, I plan on giving you a sporting chance.”

“Fair enough,” said Wanda, running her fingertips against her palms. Jamie crossed her arms in front of her face and flailed them outward. A bundle of thick snakes appeared from thin air and charged downward to meet Wanda. They circled around her, trying to wrap her up. One of the brushed her arm--she was so startled by how physical it felt. Wanda used some small hexes to make the illusions implode, popping the heads of the snakes. The bodies ceased to wriggle and then vanished.

“Cute,” said Jamie with a smirk. “How about this?” Jamie held one arm out in front of her and threw the other behind. A gigantic fish appeared and she slung it out of her grasp. The fish growled and hissed and snapped its jaws at Wanda. But Wanda threw a hex directly at its face. The fish flickered and vanished. 

Jamie didn’t stop to comment this time. She bent her forearms towards her chest and rolled her arms with her shoulders. Two gigantic beams of light appeared, crossing in midair in front of her. They stretched all the way across the alley. Wanda was trapped in between them. Jamie moved the beams of light closer together like the blades of scissors. Wanda pressed outward with an invisible hex that shielded her waist. Jamie tried to move the blades up and down but Wanda continued to hold against them. And then Wanda attacked the blades themselves, making them collapse.

“I see,” said Jamie, sizing Wanda up. “You’re going to put up a fight.”

Wanda took a few deep breaths. “You’re right, I am. But I’m not going to kill you unless it’s absolutely necessary. The Captain is your friend. He will do what it takes to save you--but only if you let him. He told me to give you the chance.”

Jamie raised an eyebrow at Wanda. “You know what, I wasn’t sure if I was going to kill you. Now I think I will.” Jamie created an illusion of two swords to go after Wanda. Wanda prepared a hex to destroy it, but it didn’t work. The swords sailed across the alleyway and started to hack and cut at her--they didn’t get close enough to draw blood, but they bruised her and made it hard for her to stand up straight. She created hexes to defend herself against them and shield parts of herself, but the swords moved around her, and she had to move with them. Like a puppeteer, Jamie controlled the illusions from across the alley, moving closer. She was concentrating on controlling the illusions, making them more solid and more resistant against Wanda’s hexes. Wanda had to create bigger hexes with more energy to beat them back. Finally the swords broke apart in small bursts of light that nearly blinded her. 

Jamie raised an arm over her head and came down swinging with the illusion of a screeching raven that went straight for her eyes. Wanda was still crouched down and the bird came as she was standing up. The beak, the feathers, the cawing felt real as it flapped around her face and tried pinching her skin with its beak. She wanted to brush the thing away from her face to come up with a hex to destroy it but its attacks were relentless. It was like Jamie had placed it in orbit around her head. Finally Wanda crossed her hands over her face and let out a small hex. The blast made the raven back away. Wanda made a bigger hex, and Jamie, caught off guard by the sudden movements, was not prepared to strengthen the illusion. The raven exploded.

Jamie leaned over the ground. A gigantic creature appeared at her feet and began to walk across the alley towards Wanda. It was an alligator. It opened its jaws and snapped at Wanda’s feet. It growled. Wanda levitated herself four feet into the air to get out of its way. The alligator turned into a gigantic feral dog that jumped up and snapped at her dangling feet. Wanda hovered in the air, hunched over as she tried to create a blast of enough energy to disintegrate the dog. The dog resisted these attempts at destruction. It jumped up and grabbed Wanda’s foot. She screamed. The teeth had cut through the leather of her boots and they hurt. The dog was dragging her down. 

Now she was starting to sweat. She had read the reports about Jamie’s powers, about how she had been trained to use them, how she had lent them to Hydra’s purposes of terror. But nothing could have prepared Wanda for the real thing. Wanda managed to kick her leg out and make the dog release her foot. Her foot was bleeding. The dog crouched on the ground, ready to pounce at Wanda, his massive jaws drooling. When Wanda looked into its black eyes she saw hatred and fear and a desire to prove dominance--the exact same emotions that Wanda sensed in Jamie. Wanda broke eye contact with the dog and looked at Jamie, who was leaning over trying to control it. But then she looked up at Wanda and grinned.

“Can your powers do that?” she taunted.

“Let’s test that theory.” Wanda used a hex on the dog--not one to disintegrate it, but to get inside it. The dog stopped barking. It started to turn around. Jamie felt her control over the dog weakening. Her eyes widened with fear. She started to push her own energy into the dog. The dog faded away, and there was a ball of fizzling white light hovering in the air between the two women that readily exploded. Jamie fell over to one side. Wanda landed on her feet. She walked forward, but Jamie stood up quickly. 

“Don’t even think about it,” said Jamie. 

“Jamie, this is for your own good,” said Wanda. “You’ve been doing the wrong thing for too long. You’ve been letting evil dominate your life. But you can change, I know you can. Trust me, I did.”

Jamie laughed, spitting a little. She wiped her lip. “Good? Evil? I think you mean survival of the fittest. Hydra is going to win, and I’ll be there when it does.”

“Jamie, the forces of good and evil are real. One can save you. The other can destroy you.”

“You’re one to talk,” said Jamie. She swiped her arm through the air. A cold gust knocked Wanda to the side, and she caught herself on the wall behind her. “Innocent people die every day. The guilty ones go on living. Those terms have no meaning for me, I take what I want.” 

“Are you a terrorist, then?” asked Wanda, shooting a blast of red light at Jamie.

“Never!” shouted Jamie, raising a barrier of gold light to block the hex. They pushed their powers against each other, both straining with the effort. “How dare you call me a terrorist? Terrorists killed my brother in Afghanistan! Hydra is going to make the world so that we won’t need terrorists or soldiers to fight them. I’m not a terrorist! I’m a deliverer!” Jamie was smiling when she said that. She gave a final push. It was Wanda’s turn to hit the ground.

Wanda slowly picked her head up from the ground. “Jamie, I lost a brother too.”

“His death doesn’t count,” said Jamie bitterly. “He’s a superhero. Nine times out of ten superheroes come back.”

“I don’t know that,” said Wanda, kneeling. She looked up at Jamie. “His death was real. It hurt me. But it changed me. For the better. Why did your brother dying change you for the worse? Would he have wanted this?”

Jamie growled. She created an illusion of three feral cats that pounced on Wanda’s face and neck, yowling and screeching. Their claws drew blood from Wanda’s skin and their teeth pinched her nerves. She screamed and howled with pain. Finally Jamie called them off. She had noticed that Wanda didn’t fight back this time. But she wasn’t moved by her lack of resistance.

Wanda stayed on the ground but looked at Jamie. “Jamie. Please. You don’t have to do this. You know this is wrong. This goes against everything you believe in.”

“Now that’s enough!” Jamie created a giant vulture. It gave a wild cry and jumped into the air. Wanda got to her feet and shot a hex at it. The hex pressed against the vulture’s breast as the vulture tried to fly downward to crash on top of her. But the vulture resisted, and it drove Wanda back towards the wall behind her. Just when it was about to open its beak and strike, Wanda looked up and saw a large pipe sticking out of the side of the building. Wanda used her powers to pry it off the wall. Nothing was running through the pipe, except for electrical wiring that sent a shower of sparks down on both of them. Wanda took the pipe and threw it at Jamie’s head. The phantom vulture disappeared. Jamie raised a fist in the air and deflected the falling pipe with an invisible force field. But when the pipe had fallen, Jamie was holding her wrist and rubbing it, wincing with pain.  
Jamie looked up at Wanda. She glared at her and shook her wrist loose. “Good as new,” she said. “It seems our powers are evenly matched. Are you ready for another bout?”

“How about we try something different?” said Wanda. “Let’s fight hand-to-hand. No powers. No illusions. No magic.”

“Have you been trained in this manner?”

“Yes.” 

“I’m game.” Jamie rolled her shoulders and prepared her fists to punch. 

Wanda took a few deep breaths and started forward. She threw a blow to Jamie’s face. Jamie ducked and swung back immediately. Soon they were punching and kicking each other repeatedly, but both were still standing. Soon they were trying to grab each other’s arms and legs.

Admittedly, Wanda had known she was out-of-practice in hand-to-hand fighting. And Jamie was clearly better than her. Though she was lean and haggard in appearance, her small muscles were actually powerful and better conditioned for this sort of combat. 

Wanda punched Jamie’s jaw. Jamie yelped and stumbled backwards. Jamie walked forward and threw a punch at Wanda’s nose. Wanda groaned horribly and stumbled back, clutching her face. It hurt terribly, and she could already feel the blood beginning to rush downward from it. Hopefully Jamie hadn’t broken anything. Wanda stood up straight and sent a kick flying at Jamie, striking her in the gut. Jamie yelled but recovered quickly, then shoved Wanda backwards while she was still off-balance from the kick. Wanda went flying back into a metal trash can. Jamie held back, waiting for Wanda to get up. Wanda got to her feet slowly, her entire body aching. She then ran across the alleyway at Jamie, ready to smack her senseless. Jamie raised her leg to kick Wanda. Wanda changed tactics, grabbing Jamie’ leg and then flipping her to the ground. Even with Jamie floored, Wanda continued to hold onto her opponent’s leg, trying to twist it until it broke. Jamie yanked her leg backward and then jumped to her feet. Wanda threw a punch at Jamie’s head. Jamie ducked and kicked Wanda in the side. Wanda fell against the opposite wall and held herself up. She looked at Jamie, waiting for her to attack again.

Jamie shook her head and smirked. “You’re a real doormat, aren’t you?”

“I am not,” said Wanda. 

“Well, quit trying to be nice, then,” said Jamie. “Use your powers. Strike me down. Do whatever it takes to destroy me. I don’t have any friends. My family disowned me. I’ve got nothing to live for.”

“Oh--but you do,” Wanda panted. “You--want to live--to see Hydra’s world domination--which, I guarantee, Captain America will not allow that to happen!”

Wanda generated a hex and shot it across the alleyway at Jamie. Jamie ran to get out of the way--and she kept running. Wanda began to pursue her, shooting hexes. Jamie dodged most of them, but stopped to deflect a few with energy blasts of her own. But she wasn’t going to stop and fight. Wanda was too exhausted to call her out for it.  
When they’d reached the middle of the street, Jamie stopped in front of a manhole cover. Wanda threw another hex at her. Jamie created an image of a coiled snake in front of her. The snake vibrated when the hex struck it, and then it began to slither itself apart and raise its head to strike Wanda. Wanda had energy going in both of her hands, and she blocked the snake as it tried to get close to her or bite her. She realized too late, however, that Jamie was using the snake to push Wanda away from her. When the snake hovered in front of Wanda, Wanda clapped her hands in the middle of the snake’s head and the whole thing vanished.

“You were a disappointment, Wanda,” said Jamie. “I expected someone strong to fight me. Not someone so weak as you are. But tell Captain America this: his precious Bucky is far weaker. It is only a matter of time before he breaks.” At the mention of Bucky, Wanda froze. “Are you listening? Good! IT’S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME! Cut off one head, two more will take its place!” 

Jamie waved her arm to one side and the manhole lid flipped over. She jumped down into the dark hole without a backward glance. Wanda rushed forward to follow her, but then an explosion of white water burst out of the manhole, knocking her to the ground. Then the ground beneath her heated and rumbled. She heard a loud POP and then flames and smoke appeared out of the manhole after the waterspout had vanished. Wanda crawled away, soaking wet and shaking, and she looked backward at the manhole cover. The water that had surged out was now flooding the street. The fire was still going. Jamie Sneld had gone.

 

Wanda went back to her car and got out her phone. The tracking app showed her that the device was offline. It must have been damaged during the fight. Wanda returned to the manhole cover. It was now surrounded by emergency workers and electricians trying to fix the sewer. She asked some of the people she met if she’d seen anyone down there, they told her they hadn’t. Wanda walked down the street and tried to trace Jamie’s consciousness. Nothing.

Wanda stopped at a pharmacy to buy bandages and ice packs for her cuts and bruises. Then she went back to her hotel room to shower and put on dry clothes. She called Steve to tell him she had found Jamie but then lost her again. Steve was disappointed.

“Should I get a hold of SHIELD and help them look for her?” asked Wanda.

“No,” Steve answered her sadly. “Jamie will probably get as far away from you as she can. Go back to the military base and we’ll send someone to pick you up.” 

So Wanda flew home to Corinth, New York the next day, actually hurting worse than yesterday. When she arrived in the early afternoon, Steve told her to go see the medic about her foot and then to the cafeteria to get some lunch. There would be a meeting with the team later on.

Wanda was leaving the cafeteria on her way to the meeting when she saw Steve leaving the hangar. Hillary Tanner had just come back.

“Back so soon?” Wanda asked Hillary, laughing a little.

“Ha ha--well, I do like to visit,” Hillary shrugged. “But Coulson wanted me to be here for your report.”

“Has the SHIELD team in Louisville found any sign of Jamie?”

“No, they haven’t,” Hillary shook her head. “And they haven’t found any sign of her Hydra support, either.”

“It is not surprising,” said Wanda. 

“Oh, Cap,” said Hillary, “remind me when the meeting’s over I have something for you to sign.”

Steve sniffed. “What, paperwork?”

“Even better. A wedding card. For Sara Martin.”

“Oh, that’s right, she’s getting married!” Steve slapped his forehead lightly. “I about forgot--when’s the wedding again?”

“Next weekend in Chicago.”

“Wow. Well, that’s wonderful. I knew it was coming up. I guess I didn’t realize it was next week.” Steve punched the elevator button to go up. “Time flies.”

“Yeah, I know,” said Hillary.

When they got on the elevator, Steve said, “I also noticed on Facebook that your sister is having a baby. Congratulations.”

Hillary chuckled. “Well, thanks. I mean, this isn’t my first niece, but it’s my sister’s firstborn, so, yeah, I’m excited.” She shrugged.

The three exited the elevator.

“When is she due again?” Wanda asked.

“The due date is the day before Valentine’s. But Julia’s already started having contractions. I guess she’ll get here when she gets here. Coulson will give me the weekend off for Valentine’s though.”

“Not just for her, I presume,” said Steve smugly.

“Well, yes,” said Hillary.

They entered the meeting room. The other Avengers were already gathered. Wanda had already seen Natasha and Vision when she landed. Hillary took a seat between Natasha and Steve. Wanda sat at the far end of the table. She gave a full report of her encounter with the Spectre--at least as far as the details of their fight were concerned. 

When she finished, Steve asked, “Is there anything else you’d like to add?”

“No,” Wanda shook her head.

“She didn’t mention anything about Hydra’s plans in the area?” 

“She didn’t--well, would she have?”

Wanda felt herself tremble just slightly. She hadn’t told Steve about Jamie’s taunts about Bucky. Mostly because she didn’t want Steve to worry. He already had enough on his plate. They all did. 

But she wondered if Steve could tell that she was withholding information. And not just about her encounter with the Spectre but about nightmares she had been having recently. But he didn’t suspect her of this in the slightest. No one did. Natasha took Wanda’s report with a grain of salt, but that was how she took everything. Vision frowned a little at Wanda, concerned about how Jamie’s other taunts had affected her ego. 

Steve dismissed the Avengers. Hillary got the card out of her briefcase for him to sign. Natasha crossed the room and talked to Wanda briefly.

“Girl, I think it’s time we brushed you up on your hand-to-hand fighting,” said Natasha, a hand on Wanda’s shoulder.

“I think so, too,” said Wanda, smiling.

They made small talk on a few other matters, and Natasha filed out of the room after Steve and the guys. Hillary was closing her briefcase. 

Wanda looked up at her. Hillary looked back. 

“Hillary,” Wanda said. “There’s something I didn’t tell Steve.”

“I think it’s better at this point to not say anything,” said Hillary quickly, picking up her briefcase and walking across the room.

Wanda stood up to join her. She leaned closer to Hillary and said quietly, “Are you sure I shouldn’t say anything?”

“No,” Hillary shook her head. “He’s better off not knowing.”

“But--the way she talked about him,” Wanda whispered, “about Bucky. She said he was reaching some kind of breaking point. I don’t like it, Hillary. Are you positive that it’s better not to say anything?”

“Yes, I am,” said Hillary, trying to sound firm. She swallowed. She’d actually meant no. But she looked at Wanda. “I don’t like Jamie’s taunts about Bucky either. I don’t like people trash-talking him period. But we don’t know anything for sure yet. We shouldn’t be giving Steve ideas--not without evidence.”

Wanda nodded. She walked with Hillary down to the hangar. They passed Steve alone in one of the conference rooms, looking over the snowy landscape outside of the Avengers’ base, wondering what these developments would come to.

Wanda would hear Jamie Sneld’s taunts in her sleep for the next four months. For the first little while, she would wonder if she should have ignored Hillary’s advice and said something anyway.

By the time she wasn’t worried about it anymore, it would be too late.


End file.
